Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of September 16-22

Suicide attacks in Chechnya and Ingushetia; start of presidential election campaign in Azerbaijan; statements about solving the murder of Russian diplomat in Sukhumi; recall of license of "Business Bank" in Dagestan; election of Speaker of Parliament and approval of Premier in Ingushetia; post-election rally of communists in Volgograd that caused legality doubts with the police, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of September 16-22, 2013, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Suicide attacks committed in Chechnya and Ingushetia

On September 16 in Chechnya, a suicide bomber committed a terror act near the building of the Sunzha ROVD (District Interior Division) located in the village of Sernovodskaya. As a result, three policemen died, and four others were wounded. On the same day in Ingushetia, in the village of Nesterovskaya, a car blew off in a shootout; one policeman was killed and three others were wounded. Prior to the incident in Nesterovskaya, a man was detained near the Sunzha ROVD with an explosive device on him. He was identified as a certain Sulambek Machukaev, a resident of Chechnya. He was about to commit a terror act similar to the one in Sernovodskaya, said the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC).

On that very day, the operative headquarters of the Chechen Republic introduced the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime in the Sunzha District; and in a wooded area near the administrative border with Ingushetia, power agents launched a special operation to search for militants. Andrei Seryozhnikov, the head of the FSB Department for Chechnya, said at his meeting on September 16 with the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, while commenting on the attack in the Sernovodskaya, that "Doku Umarov, the leader of the bandit underground stands behind all this."

Azerbaijan: 10 registered presidential candidates start their fight for citizens' votes

On September 16, Azerbaijan gave a start to the pre-election campaign of presidential candidates before the upcoming presidential election, scheduled for October 9. In total, 10 candidates have been registered, namely: the incumbent President Ilham Aliev; Igbal Agazade, the leader of the "Umid" (Hope) Party; a self-nominee Zakhid Orudz; Jamil Gasanli, a nominee of the oppositional National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF); Ilyas Ismailov, the leader of the "Justice Party"; Sardar Mamedov (Jalaloglu), the chairman of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan; Gudrat Gasanguliev, the head of the party "Popular Front of United Azerbaijan"; Araz Alizade, the chairman of the Social-Democratic Party; Khafiz Gadjiev, the head of the Party "Modern Musavat"; and Faradj Guliev, the chairman of the Party "Movement of National Revival".

Local experts predict that Aliev, Gasanli and Agazade will take the first three places in the presidential election in Azerbaijan; the other candidates have been put on the track with the aim to split the electorate, analysts say.

Native of Chechnya detained in Georgia is suspected of killing Russian diplomat in Sukhumi

On September 19, it became known that Yusup Lakaev, a native of Chechnya, who was detained on September 13 in Batumi after a shootout with Georgian policemen, is suspected of killing the Russian diplomat Dmitry Vishernev in Sukhumi on September 9. In May 2011, Lakaev was released from prison, where he served his term aiding Chechen militants, and was on the list of persons, who were posing, according to the Russian security forces, a threat to the Sochi Olympics. According to the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Abkhazia, the molecular-genetic examination has confirmed Lakaev's involvement in the murder of Vishernev. Russia asks Georgia to extradite Lakaev, said Vladimir Markin, the spokesman of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF). So far, the GPO of Georgia has reported that they received no official request from Russia on Lakaev's extradition; while Georgian experts treat the information about Lakaev's involvement in the murder of the Russian diplomat as controversial.

In Dagestan, another bank deprived of license

On September 19, the Central Bank of Russia decided to revoke the license on banking operations from the credit institution – the LLC "Business Bank", registered in Makhachkala. The reason was in a revealed major shortage of cash in the bank and questionable, in the opinion of the Central Bank, financial operations. The "Business Bank" has followed the range of other Dagestani credit institutions, which had been deprived of their licenses, namely: the Makhachkala City Municipal Bank, "Andjibank", Bank "Express", "Transenergobank", "Vitas", "Derbent-Credit" and the Trust Bank.

Ingushetia elects Speaker of Parliament and approves Prime Minister

On September 16, Ingush MPs elected their Speaker – the head of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic. Magomet Tetriev, an ex-candidate for the post of head of Ingushetia and former deputy speaker, was elected. Magomed Didigov, who was the Speaker before, was appointed by the Ingush leader Yunus-Bek Evkurov, who himself was elected to the post on September 8, to be the representative of Ingushetia at the Russia's Federation Council. On September 19, the MPs voted in favour of the former Minister for Construction Abubakar Malsagov as the new Prime Minister – the Chairman of the Government. He was nominated by Yunus-Bek Evkurov.

Police doubt legality of communists' post-election rally in Volgograd

Last week in Volgograd, local communists, dissatisfied with the outcomes of the elections to the City Duma, where the "Edinaya Rossiya (United Russia) Party won 33 out of 48 seats, continued their protest started on September 10 in the mini-park in front of the regional government. On September 17, a 500-strong rally took place there with the participation of members of other parties, claiming violations at the elections. On September 18, the place was blocked, but still the rally of the CPRF took place in the evening. Communists reported that there were no music and speeches at the microphone.

After the mass rally held by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), policemen began summoning its participants under the pretext to verify whether the federal law was observed, as they assert that on September 17, instead of the applied meeting with MPs, an unauthorized public event was held.